Define YOURSELF!

Trust me when I say mental health is no easy feat for anyone. There are days of darkness and weeks of sunshine, and if you’re lucky, sometimes you forget you even have a mental illness. Then, out of nowhere the truth hits you like a truck and you’re right back at the beginning. The beginning of a rollercoaster you’ve ridden thousands of times, and scream desperately for someone to get you off of it. Does this sound like a fun time? Hopefully you’re not thinking yes, because if you are, you might just be an idiot…no offense!

People have this perception that mental illness defines a person. For some, I’m sure it can, but only if they live out that perception in reality. People use mental illness as an excuse, and that is because it has become a social norm and a daily routine. They use the “I am the way I am because of ____” excuse. If that is the case, then most of us would have no job, no degree, and no integrity whatsoever. I know for myself if I were to say “I can’t do such and such because of my mental illness” to my boss, she would either laugh in my face, or fire me. Mental health is a real thing, but much of the time it can be monitored and controlled for us to live out daily lives and routines in normal settings.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t mental illnesses that are debilitating and prevent a normal life from being led, but what is does mean is that “we” provide the definition we wish to be defined by in regards to “our” own specific mental illness. An illness can have the same name and symptoms, but how we are as a person puts our own twist on it.

I myself am bipolar, and I have my moments where I cycle in the ups and downs and highs and lows, but how I get through them is based off my own decisions and my own doings. We are not our “mental illness.” We are our own type of person. You control your life, not your illness.

What I am trying to get across is that when people say “I am bipolar” or “I am schizophrenic” they are not wrong, nor are they right. They are living in a generation where definition is recognized more often than not. It’s not right or wrong, but you are “YOU!” YOU are not YOUR illness. Be who you are. Do not be DEFINED!

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Published by manymorebreaths

1 thought on “Define YOURSELF!”

I find it curious that a person HAS cancer, or HAS diabetes, but IS bipolar, IS depressed or IS manic or IS autistic, etc. It seems as though brain functioning that is atypical is a “who we are” attribute whereas an atypical function of any other body part is more like an added feature. Curious ponderings.